C&E Sample Poem 

 close window 

Here's one example of the type of writing we like:

the way of the lead pipe
by Rob Plath

one time my father
was in the hospital
and he felt like he
was having a heart
attack and the nurses
weren't answering
his buzzer calls
so he threw the IV stand
(which held a glass
bottle in those days)
across the room & it
smashed & they came
running to see what
the horrible smashing
noise was and they
saw the needles
ripped out of his arm
the blood, the glass
shards in the corner

all his life, he always
survived
through the use
of pure
physical
force

never the delicacy
of the ticking
of a wrist watch
but always the sound
of the lead pipe
rolling back
and forth
clanking against
the metal frame
beneath the driver's
seat as he steered
the necessary turns
to get wherever
he was going